1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a suction tube for use in a surgical operation such as plastic surgery for aspirating subcutaneous fat or other tissues, and more particularly, to an improvement in and concerning a surgical suction tube with which a surgical operation for fat aspirating or other purposes can be performed readily and safely and which is expected to reduce the period for healing an operation wound.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among the various types of surgical suction tubes used in a surgical operation for aspirating subcutaneous fat or other tissues, typical is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,013 issued on Jan. 28, 1992 to Haruo Takase, the inventor of this invention. The surgical suction tube earlier proposed by the inventor is now finding widespread acceptance for actual use in a surgical operation. This conventional suction tube comprises a suction tube body provided at its leading end portion with a suction mouth, and a fluid supply tube for supplying a fluid such as air and Ringer's solution around the suction mouth. The suction mouth in the suction tube body opens in a direction different from the axial direction of the suction tube body. The fluid supply tube is attached to the outside of the suction tube body in parallel. This suction tube has an advantage in that it can aspirate the subcutaneous fat or the like in plastic surgery with notably high efficiency in safety and enjoys higher operability in comparison with other conventional suction tubes.
However, there is a possibility that such subcutaneous tissues enter into the leading end outlet of the fluid supply tube, thereby preventing the spouting of fluid such as Ringer's solution. As a result, the efficiency of aspirating the subcutaneous fat or the like is lowered. Therefore, in such a case, it is required to discontinue performing the operation to clean the fluid supply tube every time the fluid supply tube is blocked. Thus, the conventional suction tube entailed a disadvantage such that the work of removing the blockage tissues in the fluid supply tube takes much time and labor and proves to be troublesome, whereby the surgical operation is prolonged.
Furthermore, the conventional surgical suction tubes including the aforenoted suction tube generally have a function of taking subcutaneous fat or other tissues off by dint of only a sucking force, but sufficient effect of aspirating such tissues could not be obtained. Thus, a need has been felt for a suction tube capable of easily sucking out the subcutaneous fat or other tissues with high efficiency.